Purim is a joyous Jewish holiday in which we celebrate how Queen Esther helped outsmart and thwart the evil Haman, who had plotted to destroy all the Jews in ancient Shushan (in Prussia). We celebrate by reading the Megillah (Scroll of Esther) and drowning out Haman’s name with noisemakers. We also dress in costumes, play games at Purim carnivals and eat hamantaschen, which are triangular fruit-filled cookies shaped like Haman’s tri-cornered hat.

In past years, I’ve struggled with making gluten-free hamantaschen. One year I had so many failed batches that I laid down and cried. This year, I once again set out to make gluten-free hamantaschen for Purim, so my daughter could have treats to bring to her class parties and family celebrations.

I originally wanted the recipe to include ancient gluten-free grains like quinoa, amaranth and buckwheat, because they have significantly more protein and fiber than standard gluten-free flours. But no go. The taste was too strong and color too dark. That was two batches down, plus one batch that ended up on the kitchen floor when the parchment paper slid off the cookie sheet. D’oh.

I’m glad I kept trying. The dairy-free version below has a delicate taste without a gluten-free grittiness. The brown rice flour and sorghum subtly add extra protein and fiber, and the fruit filling provides the perfect sweetness.

If you’re unfamiliar with hamantaschen, they are somewhat similar to the Central European kolache (or is it kolachki?), in that they are cookies with fruit centers. Traditional hamantaschen fillings are prune, poppyseed and apricot, but you can fill them with anything, including any kind of fruit preserves, chocolate chips, M&Ms or Nutella.

Add flour combination slowly to mixture. Mix until well combined and dough begins to gather together (dough will not be stiff enough to form a ball).

Remove dough from bowl, wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate overnight. Dough can be stored in refrigerator for several days before baking.

When you’re ready to bake the hamantaschen, preheat oven to 350.

Work with a quarter of the dough at a time, leaving the remainder refrigerated until needed, so it doesn’t get too soft or sticky. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough between two pieces of waxed paper to about 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch thickness. If dough is sticky, sprinkle some gluten-free flour on the work surface and knead it into the dough.

Using a wide juice glass (or biscuit cutter), press the top of the glass into the dough to cut out 3-inch circles of dough. Gather scraps and reroll for more circles. With a spatula, move dough circles to cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Put approximately 1 teaspoon of filling (see options below) in the center of each circle. Fold up the sides of the circle to form a triangle (symbolic of Haman’s three-cornered hat). Leave an opening at center of the triangle to let the filling peek through. Pinch edges together to prevent filling from leaking out.

Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are slightly brown. Let cool slightly before transferring to cooling rack.

27 responses to “Gluten-Free Hamantaschen”

I made these for my synagogue’s Purim celebration this year–they were awesome!! I followed the recipe to the letter, and and used raspberry pie filling. Thank you so much for this recipe. The are the best hamantaschen I’ve had since going gluten free!

Made these today and they are awesome!! The orange juice and zest is a great addition. I used grapeseed oil instead of canola but didn’t change anything else. Used Bonne Maman strawberry, blueberry, and blackberry preserves for filling. Thank you for a great recipe where the GF crust is actually as good as the filling!

I just made these today for the first time. (My first time making any hamentaschen.) They are excellent! They’re very tasty, with a great texture. I used raspberry jam and orange marmalade as fillings. The dough was easier to work with than I expected; it rolled out nicely and was not overly sticky. For the flour blend, I used regular brown and white rice flours (I didn’t have sweet or superfine). I also left out the orange zest, as the house was orange-less. My GF 6-yo is so excited to bring them to her Purim carnival! I will definitely make these again next year.

They turned out to perfection…beautiful & delicious! (I subbed coconut oil for the canola & used Mama Mia’s Almond Blend GF flour (w/o xanthum gum). Hopefully, there will still be a few left for Purim!

Thanks! I’m so glad they turned out “to perfection”!!
I love coconut oil, so that’s a good sub. For any of my recipes, feel free to sub your own all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.
What kind of fillings did you use?
Happy Purim!
Eve

Hi Elana,
Many gluten-free flours are available from Bob’s Red Mill. I use brown rice flour, sorghum flour and tapioca starch from Bob’s Red Mill (or sometimes I buy tapioca starch from an Asian grocery store). I usually use the Koda Farms Mochiko sweet rice flour, which I also find at an Asian grocery store and sometimes at a regular grocery store. Bob’s also has a sweet rice flour on their site. I use Manischewitz potato starch (I buy about 5 canisters during Passover for use throughout the year).

If that’s too much for you to buy, then try making the hamantaschen using 4 1/2 cups of a store-bought gluten-free flour blend that does not contain xanthan gum. I like Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour, but many other brands are great too.

I usually use Arrowhead Mills GF All Purpose Baking Mix for baking etc. I see that you wrote not to use a flour mix that has xanthan gum….this mix does have it. Is it worth a shot using this mix and just not adding the 2 tsp of xanthan gum?

Esther,
If your mix has xanthan gum in it, then that’s fine — just omit the 2 tsp that I call for. But do check the ingredients — I just looked up the Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Mix online and it looked like the mix contains gluten-free flours and baking powder, but the ingredients did not seem to include xanthan gum.
I usually call for a specific mix of flours because that’s how I like to bake, but feel free to use an all-purpose mix if that’s what’s easiest for you. Baking GF is hard enough — so please do what’s easiest and what works best for you.
-Eve

Help!
I’ve attempted several recipes for G-free Hamantaschen. The dough is crumbly and can’t be rolled. (It made nice sugar cookies)
I noticed the recipes generally seemed to have not enough moist ingredients, and the dough was really hard to work (this is by hand).
what do you suggest? Purim is around the corner….
Toh-dah, Rachel

Rachel,
Have you tried the recipe I posted? I had good success with it. As the photos show, I was able to roll the dough out and shape the hamantaschen pretty easily. I roll the dough between two pieces of parchment paper.
If you are modifying another recipe, you might want to add some orange juice or you could try substituting apple sauce for 1/3 cup of the oil and see if that works.
Eve

Congrats on great hamentaschen! I made mine from g/f pizza dough and glazed them with a brown sugar syrup. not soooo traditional but an easy to eat not overly sweet and not hugely guilty alternative! turned out more like fruit pizza. but prepackaged g/f pizza dough was easy and quick:-)

About Gluten-Free Nosh

Sharing recipes, tips and experiences forgluten-free families

My youngest daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease when she turned 2. In the past seven years, we’ve learned how to create gluten-free versions of our favorite foods and traditional Jewish foods and how to navigate through restaurants, school and birthday parties gluten-free.